Drug Industry Document Archive
Encyclopedia
The Drug Industry Document Archive (DIDA) is a digital archive of pharmaceutical industry documents created and maintained by the University of California, San Francisco
, Library and Center for Knowledge Management. DIDA contains documents about pharmaceutical industry clinical trials, publication of study results, pricing, marketing
, relations with physicians and drug company involvement in continuing medical education.
Most of the previously secret documents on DIDA were made public as a result of lawsuits against the following pharmaceutical companies:
Merck & Co.
, Parke-Davis
, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer
, Wyeth
and Abbott Labs.
Researchers as well as students, journalists, and the general public, use the archive to investigate the ways pharmaceutical companies market their products. The UCSF Library created this digital archive in an attempt to facilitate further research into the drug industry's practice of establishing close links with the medical community which has been shown to influence scientific research, drug approval, prescription practices, and ultimately, consumer health.
Documents in DIDA come from a variety of sources including:
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
, Library and Center for Knowledge Management. DIDA contains documents about pharmaceutical industry clinical trials, publication of study results, pricing, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, relations with physicians and drug company involvement in continuing medical education.
Most of the previously secret documents on DIDA were made public as a result of lawsuits against the following pharmaceutical companies:
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
, Parke-Davis
Parke-Davis
Parke-Davis is a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Although no longer an independent corporation, it was once America's oldest and largest drug maker, and played an important role in medical history.- History :...
, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
, Wyeth
Wyeth
Wyeth, formerly one of the companies owned by American Home Products Corporation , was a pharmaceutical company. The company was based in Madison, New Jersey, USA...
and Abbott Labs.
Researchers as well as students, journalists, and the general public, use the archive to investigate the ways pharmaceutical companies market their products. The UCSF Library created this digital archive in an attempt to facilitate further research into the drug industry's practice of establishing close links with the medical community which has been shown to influence scientific research, drug approval, prescription practices, and ultimately, consumer health.
Collections
DIDA contains:- internal pharmaceutical company documents
- correspondence between drug companies and physicians, researchers and educational institutions
- regulatory and legal documents
- court filings
- depositionsDeposition (law)In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
- expert reports
- internal University documents
Documents in DIDA come from a variety of sources including:
- Lawsuits against Merck & Co.Merck & Co.Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
regarding the marketing and use of Vioxx - The landmark whistleblower case involving Neurontin (gabapentinGabapentinGabapentin is a pharmaceutical drug, specifically a GABA analogue. It was originally developed for the treatment of epilepsy, and currently is also used to relieve neuropathic pain...
) and off-label marketing: United States of America ex rel. David Franklin vs. Parke-Davis, Division of Warner-Lambert/Pfizer - Investigations into conflict of interestConflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
and academic institutions by the US Senate Finance Committee, headed by Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) - Investigations into the marketing of Vioxx to physicians by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, headed by Henry A. Waxman
- Anti-trust litigation involving Abbott Labs and their HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
drug Norvir - Lawsuits against WyethWyethWyeth, formerly one of the companies owned by American Home Products Corporation , was a pharmaceutical company. The company was based in Madison, New Jersey, USA...
for the unethical promotion of the hormone replacement drug PremarinPremarinPremarin is the commercial name for a compound cream of vaginally administered estrogens, consisting primarily of conjugated estrogens. Isolated from mares' urine , it is manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and has been marketed since 1942...
to women. Wyeth paid medical ghostwriterMedical ghostwriterThe American Medical Writers Association speaks to the topic as follows:With medical ghostwriting, professional writers and other parties are paid — commonly by pharmaceuticals and medical devices manufacturers — to produce manuscripts for conference presentations, scientific publications,...
s to author journal articles about the drug.
Further reading
- Hill K., et al. The ADVANTAGE Seeding Trial: A Review of Internal Documents. Annals of Internal Medicine 2008 Aug. 149(4):251-258.
- Landefeld, S and Steinman, M. The Neurontin Legacy - Marketing through Misinformation. NEJM Jan 8;360(2):103-6.
- Waxman, HA. Memorandum to the Democratic Members of the Government Reform Committee: The marketing of Vioxx to physicians. May 5, 2005. Committee on Government Reform Minority Office, United States House of Representatives.
External links
- Official website
- The Prescription Project. Accessed 1/7/2009.
- The Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL). Accessed 1/7/2009.
- SourceWatch articles on the Pharmaceutical Industry. Accessed 1/7/2009.
- No Free Lunch. Accessed 1/7/2009.
- Healthy Skepticism. Accessed 1/7/2009.